since may, the two presidential candidates have held 30 events across the state, with president obama holding three times as many campaign stops as former governor mitt romney. both vice presidential candidates have criss-crossed iowa just in the past few weeks, a sign both parties still think they can win here. president obama has taken a lead in recent polls. still, he is not headed into this election with the same advantage he had in 2008 when he won the state by ten points. two years ago, the republican party chipped away at the democrats lead, and now claim almost 11,000 more registered active voters. mitt romney came in a close second here in the january caucuses, that's four years after he ignored, and lost, the state-- also proof of how campaigning here can make a difference. republicans want to capitalize on that momentum. >> in 2008, the obama campaign had the organizational advantage in iowa. in 2012, republicans have stepped up their game. they had done more by april than john mccain did in iowa by election night in 2008. >> reporter: but political support in iowa doesn't